I feel like a little bit of personal background is needed to understand why I'm writing about the things I do. I'm a social studies education and history double major; so the concept of learning is incredibly fascinating to me, and I tend to see education as a tool to help address the problems we face in society. With that said, here we launch into my thoughts on the enlightenment:
I think Kant's concept of immaturity is very interesting. The idea that people are afraid or do not have the courage to use their own intelligence is an idea that I think is still relevant today. I've taken a few psychology and childhood and family development classes, and one of the interesting things that those instructors pointed out was that children who come from families with higher socioecomic (SES) backgrounds tend to be more willing to ask questions in life and school such as, "Why is this rule this way." But students from families with lower socioecomic backgrounds tend to more or less accept the rules that are presented before them without seeking to truly understand the logic behind them.
So while the motto of "Have the courage to use your own intelligence!" is still relevant today because people do still accept what is fed to them, I disagree with Kant when he says, "Through laziness and cowardice a large part of mankind, even after nature has freed them from alien guidance, gladly remain immature" (p. 55). For me, when you look at it in a very practical sense, people from lower SES backgrounds tend to have jobs that require doing without asking questions. Have you ever watched Deadliest Catch? Being a greenhorn on a crabbing boat is not the right place ask, "why is this rule this way?" or "why do we do things x-way when y-way seems more efficient?" because your boss is going to tell you, "Because I said so! Shut up and fish!"
I think being able to ask questions is an essential part of learning. As John Bronowski said, "It is important that students bring a certain ragamuffin, barefoot irreverence to their studies; they are not here to worship what is known, but to question it." I feel like getting people to the point where they are able to ask questions, to seek understanding, and to move past passive acceptance could be an idea Kant is really driving at here, and I think that if we emphasized that concept today over time it could help to end, or at least change, the cyclical nature of poverty.
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You make a great point, David. I know we touched on this in class but your Social Studies and History background give you a little more perspective. Your post reminds me of something I learned in Intro to Psych about how people in higher paying careers punish their children differently than those in low paying ones. If a teacher or businessperson does something wrong at work, their boss will bring them in and go over ways to improve, whereas someone on a crab boat or in a factory gets threatened with losing their job. The higher rates of spanking among low SES families is attributed to this, as they quickly go to the extreme, instead of taking the time to work through the issue.
ReplyDeleteI liked how you tied the ideas of the time to what is going on now. I really liked how you were even able to tie into modern tv. I agree that there are times to ask why are things done this way and that there are times to do just what you are told. Being on a crabbing ship is very dangerous and that is not the time to ask hey lets change something that is known to be pretty safe to something that could be very dangerous. I believe though in a conference meeting would be a better time to ask why are things done this way and this is maybe how it should be done. This also goes back to different SES classes. People who work on a boat catching crabs tend to be in a lower SES where as people in a conference meeting would tend to be in a higher SES.
ReplyDeleteGreat points but I would also add the old "time and place" adage. Perhaps in the midst of trying to bring the nets full of fish is not the best time to make suggestions but maybe at dinner or at the bar once the voyage is finished, a possible idea could be offered up. I would also argue that the middle of a major presentation is not the time for an employee to second-guess his boss.
ReplyDeleteStill, I think your reference to SES is important; to me it highlights the different notions about the purpose of education. Some people want to be challenged to think; others want to be told what they need to know to move on.